List of England Cricket Captains

List Of England Cricket Captains

This is a list of all English national cricket captains, comprising all of the men, boys and women who have captained an English national cricket team at official international level. England played in the first Test match in 1877 and have played more Test matches, and had more captains, than any other team. In the 19th century, the captains for overseas tours were chosen by the promoters, with James Lillywhite, Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury being the main professional promoters. However, some amateur tours went abroad under Lord Harris and Lord Hawke. Home captains were selected by the home ground authority, who often went for their local favourites. For around sixty years, from 1902/3, the Marylebone Cricket Club took over the organisation of all overseas tours, with the games played being technically by the "MCC" rather than "England". They brought with them the tradition of having amateur, rather than professional, captains, and after Shrewsbury there wasn't another professional captain until Len Hutton around sixty years later. The amateur/professional distinction was abolished in 1962, and a new breed of captain in Brian Close and then Ray Illingworth was born.

From the mid-1980s until the late 1990s, English cricket was in decline, with the England team suffering many heavy defeats. The desperation was most clear in the "summer of four captains" in 1988, during the West Indies tour of England, when the captaincy started with Mike Gatting, who was sacked after the first Test as a result of a dalliance with a barmaid. He was initially replaced by John Emburey, who lasted just two Tests before being sacked after two consecutive defeats. Chris Cowdrey was appointed amidst accusations of nepotism on the part of chief of selectors Peter May, but sustained an injury in his only Test as captain. Finally, Graham Gooch became England's fourth captain of the summer. Unsurprisingly, England lost the five-Test series 4–0. Gooch however remained in the post until 1993 after the fourth Test against Australia, having failed to win a Test match that year.

England's mixed fortunes continued under Gooch's successor Mike Atherton. Earmarked early as a future captain, England enjoyed victories over South Africa, India and New Zealand under his premiership although they continued to fare badly against the West Indies and Australia, and the lack of consistent progress led to his resignation at the end of the 1997/98 tour of the West Indies, which England lost 3-1. Replacement Alec Stewart was sacked after less than a year in the job after another defeat in Australia and a disastrous 1999 Cricket World Cup campaign. The beginning of Nasser Hussain's captaincy saw England jeered by their own supporters after losing to New Zealand at home in 1999, but England soon started to enjoy a revival, which continued under Michael Vaughan. England were the only team undefeated in 2004, and were, as at June 2005, ranked as the second-best Test nation in the world. Later that summer they regained The Ashes from Australia, having not held them since 1989.

Following Vaughan's retirement, England were briefly captained by Kevin Pietersen before Andrew Strauss took on the role permanently following Pietersen's resignation. Strauss became the first captain to lead England to victory in a Test series in Australia since 1987, as well as taking them to the number one ranking in the summer of 2011. Strauss announced his resignation and retirement following the relinquishing of the top ranking to South Africa in 2012, with One Day International captain and Strauss' deputy Alastair Cook was named as the replacement.